Printing plate stops for spirally grooved cylinders



J. E. MEYER PRINTING PLATE STOPS FOR SPIRALLY GROOVED CYLINDERS March22, 1949.

INVENTOR.

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb l, 1946 much 22, 1949. 2,465,252

E PRINTING PLATE STOPS FOR SPIRALLY GROQVED CYLINDERS v 2 Sheets-Sheet 2Filed Feb. 1, 1946 INVENTOR.

Patented Mar. 22, 1949 PRINTING PLATE srors FOR SPIRALLY GROOVEDCYLINDERS Joseph E. Meyer, Westerly, R. I., assignor to C. B.

Cottrell & Sons Company, -Westerly, R. I., a

corporation of Delaware I Application February 1, 1946, Serial No.644,688

In rotary printing presses running at high speeds and. employingspirally grooved cylinders it.has been found desirable to provide fixeddriving stops for the printing plates, which stops are located inposition to prevent any slight circumferential creeping or shiftingmovement of the printing plates due to the crowd of printing pressure onthe said plates.

The object of my invention is to provide effective means for removablyseating these plate Stops'inthe cylinder, and to provide suitable means"for locking the stops to the cylinder..

My invention includes blade-like stops seated in narrow straight grooveswhich intersect the spiral grooves in the cylinder, said narrow straightgrooves being parallel with the axis of rotation of the cylinder, noveldevices being provided for locking the stops to the cylinder.

My invention also includes the arrangement of the narrow straightgrooves in pairs so that the plate stops may be used as driving stopsfor clamping the rear edges of circumferentially longer and shorter fulllength plates, as bleed and non-bleed plates, to the cylinder.

My invention also includes providing the stop clamps with manuallyoperated propelling means whereby the clamps may be moved along thespiral grooves into positions to engage the driv ing stops for clampingthem to the cylinder at predetermined intersections of the spiral andnarrow straight grooves.

My invention includes more specifically in providing the blade-likedriving stops with elongated tapered slots spaced along the same andproviding the stop clamps with diagonally disposed beveled nosesarranged in position to enter said slots and thereby wedge the stopsdown into their. narrow straight grooves for clamping the stops to thecylinder against displacement thereon. r I My invention also includesthe/provision of manually operated locks mounted in the stop clamps inposition to be turned to secure the clamps firmly to the cylinder intheir stop locking positions. A practical embodiment of my invention isrepresented in the accompanying drawings, in

which Fig. 1 represents a detail plan view of a cylin-' der havingspaced spiral grooves intersected by narrow straight groovescircumferentially longer and shorter full size printing plates beingshown clamped to the cylinder in staggered order;

-- Fig.2 represents a section taken in the plane of the line 11-11 ofFig. 1;

" 7Claims. (01.101-388) I "Fig. 3 represents a front view of one'of theplate stops;

Fig. 4 represents a section taken in the plane of the line IV-IV of Fig.3; i

Fig. 5'represents a section taken in the plane of the line V-V of Fig.3; i

Fig. 6 represents, on an enlarged scale, a detail plan View partly insection of the cylinder with the printing plate removed to show moreclearly the fixed removable driving stop and; its locking clamp;

Fig.:7 represents a section taken in the plane of the line VII-VII ofFig. 6;

Fig.-- 8 represents a detail plan view .of the cylinder :and one ofthestop looking clamps;

. Fig. 9 represents a sectiontaken in the plane of the line IXIX of Fig.8;

Fig. 10 represents a section taken in the plane of the line XX of Fig.8;

Fig. 11 represents a cross section taken in the plane of the line X[XIof Fig. 9;

Fig. 12 represents a plan view of a stop looking clamp having a singlelocking means;

Fig. 13 represents a side viewof the same;

Fig. 14 represents a section taken in the plane of the line XIVXIV ofFig. 12

Fig. 15 represents a side view of a key designed to propel and lock thestop looking clamp; and

:Fig'. 1'6 represents an' edge view of the key.

The plate cylinder l is shown as having the usual annular series ofequally spaced spiral grooves 2 with their side grooves 3 and 4 andbottom racks 5. -The plate clamps 6 which form a part of the meansforsecuring the printing plates to the cylinder 'I may be of'any wellknown or approved type, such, forinstance, as that shown in the UnitedStates patent toSweet' dated December 10, 1940, and numbered 2,224,555.

My'invention is herein shown as used in connection with full sizedprinting 'plates'l and 8 ofgreater and lesser circumferential lengths,as, for instance, bleed and non-bleed plates, arranged in staggeredorder on the spirally grooved cylinder; Inthis arrahg ement the cylinderI has an annular series of pairs of adjacent narrow straight grooves 9and I 0 which intersect the spiral grooves 2, one pair only ofthesenarrow straight grooves being shown in the accompanying drawings. 1

The means which I have shown for'preventing the circumferential creepingor shifting meve: ment of the printing plates on the cylinder in:

cludes the following elements. I

66 ""Fixdthin blade-like st'o'ps' utrrmbvamy seated in the narrowstraight groove 9 in position to engage the alined rear edges of thelonger printing plates 1 and to act as driving stops therefor. Othersimilar driving stops II are removably seated in their straight narrowgroove ii) in position to engage the alined rear edges of the shorterprinting plates 8.

It will be noted that these blade-like plate stops ll extendapproximately the widths of their respective printing plates and thatthese stops are provided with beveled surfaces l2 along their outeredges for overlapping the beveled rear edges of their respectiveprinting plates to clamp them to the cylinder.

The means which I have provided for locking the driving stops II to thecylinder l against displacement thereon includes a plurality of stopengaging and locking clamps I 3 which slidably fit with and are manuallypropelled along the spiral grooves 2 into and out of interlockingengagement with the plate stops II at predetermined intersections of thespiral and straight grooves, as follows.

These stop locking clamps l3 are provided with diagonally disposed nosesl4 projecting from the leading ends of the clamps, said noses havingbeveled undersides and being preferably slightly tapered to readilyenter elongated correspondingly tapered elongated slots I5 spaced alongthe plate stops II to match the groove intersections and force the stopsdown into their narrow straight grooves for securing the stops fixedlyto the cylinder, These elongated slots I5 are shown, in the presentinstance, as spaced apart so that the stops may be so seated in theirnarrow straight grooves that the said slots [5 will be positioned at theintersections of the narrow straight grooves with every second spiralgroove 2, to permit the stop clamps l3 to be moved along the said spiralgrooves 2 to bring their beveled noses [4 into engagement with saidelongated slots I5 at said groove intersections.

These clamps l3 are shown as manually propelled along within the spiralgrooves 2 and locked to the cylinder in their stop looking positions, asfollows.

A rack engaging worm gear I6 is mounted in each of the clamps l3 inposition to be driven by a worm I! also mounted in the clamp. Thesmaller non-circular bore l8 of the worm I1 opens, through the largernon-circular bore IQ of a two-winged lock 20, to the top of the clamp,for the reception of the smaller non-circular shank 2| of a key 22, theturning of which key serving, in this instance, to rotate the worm andworm gear to coact with the rack 5 to move the clamp along its circulargroove 2 into and out of its stop locking position.

The two wings of the lock may be turned into locking engagement with theside grooves 3 and 4 of the spiral groove 2 for locking the clamp 53 tothe cylinder. This is accomplished by the insertion of a larger sizednon-circular shank 23 of the key 22 into the larger non-circular bore l9of the said lock, and the turning of the said key.

A second two-winged lock 24 is shown as mounted in the clamp l3, thenon-circular bore 25 of which look opens through the top of the clampwhere it may be engaged by the non-circular shank 23 of the key 22, tobe turned into and out of its locking engagement with the walls of theside grooves 3 and 4.

If desired, the second two-winged lock may be omitted, as shown in Figs.12 to 14 inclusive. It will be noted that the stop clamps l3 are shownas divided longitudinally into half members for permitting the readymounting of the propelling and locking elements contained therein,suitable screws 26 being provided for fastening these two half memberstogether.

It will also be noted that the tops of the stop clamps l3 do not projectbeyond the periphery of the cylinder where they would interfere with thedesired positioning of the printing plates on the cylinder.

It will be understood that before a printing plate is positioned on thecylinder the fixed stop H is seated in its narrow straight groove andlocked rigidly to the cylinder by the clamps [3. The printing plate maythen be positioned on the cylinder with its rear edge engaged by thesaid stop. The usual plate clamps 6 may then be inserted into theirrequired spiral grooves and propelled or otherwise moved along the sameinto clamping engagement with the remaining edges of the plate. Thisprocedure may be repeated until the plating of the cylinder iscompleted.

It will also be noted that the narrow straight grooves are shallowerthan the spiral grooves 2 so as not to interfere with the racks 5therein.

While I have shown the narrow straight grooves in the cylinder arrangedin pairs for the seating of driving stops for circumferentially longerand shorter full sized printing plates it is obvious that where the fullsized printin plates are all of the same circumferential length one onlyof each pair of these narrow straight grooves would be used for seatingthe plate driving stops.

It will also be evident that either the clamps provided with two looks,as shown in Figs. 1 to 10 inclusive, or the clamps provided with asingle lock as shown in Figs. 12 to 14 inclusive may be used, or acombination of the clamps.

Where the printing plates are irregular or not of full size the fixedplate stops and their clamps may be omitted and the usual plate clampsmay be used all around the printing plates, the straight grooves beingnarrow enough to prevent the material of the plates from dropping downinto said groove and thus interfering with the printing surface of thesaid plates.

It is evident that various changes may be resorted to in theconstruction, form and arrangement of the several parts Withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of my invention, and hence I do notintend to be limited to the particular embodiment herein shown anddescribed, but what I claim is:

1. A cylinder having an annular series of spiral grooves and a narrowstraight groove intersecting the spiral grooves and means for clamping aprinting plate to the cylinder includin a fixed plate stop removablyseated in said narrow straight groove in position to clamp the rear edgeof the printing plate to the cylinder, and devices located atpredetermined intersections of the said spiral and narrow straightgrooves along the rear edge of the printing plate for locking the platestop to the cylinder.

2. A cylinder having an annular series of spiral grooves and a pair ofadjacent narrow straight grooves intersecting the spiral grooves andmeans for clamping full size printing plates of greater and lessercircumferential lengths to the cylinder including fixed plate stopsremovably seated in the narrow straight grooves in positions to clampthe rear edges of their respective printing plates to the cylinder, andclamps located in the spiral grooves for engaging the plate stops atpredetermined groove intersections to lock the late stops to thecylinder.

3. A cylinder having an annular series of spiral grooves and an annularseries of narrow straight grooves intersecting the spiral grooves andmeans for clamping printing plates to the cylinder including fixed platestops removably seated in the narrow straight grooves in positions toclamp the rear edges of the printin plates to the cylinder, and clampslocated in the spiral grooves for engaging the plate stops atpredetermined groove intersections to lock the plate stops to thecylinder.

4. A cylinder having an annular series of spiral grooves and an annularseries of pairs of narrow straight grooves intersecting the spiralgrooves and means for clamping full size printing plates of greater andlesser circumferential lengths to the cylinder including fixed platestops removably seated in the narrow straight grooves in positions toclamp the rear edges of their respective printing plates to thecylinder, and clamps located in the spiral grooves for engaging theplate stops at predetermined groove intersections to lock the platestops to the cylinders.

5. A cylinder having an annular series of spiral grooves and a narrowstraight groove intersecting the spiral grooves and means for clampingprinting plates to the cylinder including fixed plate stops ofblade-like form removably seated in the straight narrow grooves, saidstops having slots spaced along the same to match predetermined grooveintersections, and clamps located in said spiral grooves provided withnoses for engaging said slots to lock the stops to the cylinder.

6. A cylinder having an annular series of spiral grooves and a narrowstraight groove intersecting the spiral grooves and means for clampingprinting plates to the cylinder including fixed plate stops ofblade-like form removably seated in the straight narrow groove, saidstops having slots spaced along the same to match predetermined grooveintersections, and clamps located in said spiral grooves and providedwith diagonally disposed noses engaging said slots for lockin the stopsto the cylinder.

7. A cylinder having an annular series of spiral grooves and a narrowstraight groove intersecting the spiral grooves and means for clampingprinting plates to the cylinder including fixed plate stops ofblade-like form removably seated in the straight narrow groove, saidstops having slots spaced along the same to match predetermined grooveintersections, and clamps located in said spiral grooves and providedwith diagonally disposed beveled noses engaging said slots for lockingthe stops to the cylinder.

JOSEPH E. MEYER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 791,038 Marvin May 30, 19051,486,323 Claybourn Mar. 11, 1924 2,361,919 Barber Nov. 7, 1944

